Last December, 15-year-old Tanya* dressed for what she thought would be a temple visit. Her aunt helped her wear a langa voni, the traditional half-saree. Tanya was looking forward to the outing. But the temple visit was only what she had been told; her family was actually preparing for a prospective groom to come and see her, with marriage already being discussed.
A Class VI dropout, Tanya hails from a tribal hamlet in Nizamabad district of Telangana. She is the only child of her mother, who worked as a labourer before health problems forced her to stop. Her estranged father, who has tuberculosis and is unable to work, lives with his first wife and their children.
The man her family wanted her to marry was more than twice her age and worked at a bank. Tanya refused, but her mother and other family members insisted. The marriage was eventually stopped after one of her uncles informed the police about the pelli chupulu, a customary meeting between prospective marriage partners and their families.
The family was called for counselling, while Tanya and her mother spent three days at a Sakhi centre. The intervention stopped the marriage, but it did not alter the circumstances that had placed Tanya at risk of being married off in the first place.
The teenager carries responsibilities far beyond her years. She is the family’s only earning member: she works as an agricultural labourer and stitches traditional Lambada clothes, while cooking, running the household and caring for her mother and grandmother. Yet she is still drawn to the things that belong to her age — volleyball, which she loves and has played at the district level, and cricket with her peers.
“Of all the things, I don’t want to get married now,” she says, sitting beside her mother, whom she accuses of trying to marry her off.
Tanya stopped going to school when her mother fell ill. Her mother often consumes alcohol and blacks out, she says. Returning to school is no longer something she considers; she feels she has forgotten much of what she learnt and does not know how she would resume her studies.
A decline, but not an end
Tanya is one of hundreds of girls across Telangana whose marriages are stopped after relatives, teachers or neighbours alert authorities. Some are married before intervention; some become mothers while still children themselves.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, conducted between 2019 and 2021, found that 23.5% of women aged 20-24 in Telangana had married before turning 18, the second-highest proportion in south India after Andhra Pradesh and among the top 10 nationally.
The NFHS-6 figure for 2023-24 was 17.9%, a decline of 5.6 percentage points, against a 3.2-point fall nationally.
The decline, however, does not capture girls still being taken out of school or prepared for marriage. The Telangana Department of Women Development and Child Welfare says 1,245 child marriages were prevented in 2025-26, and another 825 between April and August this year.
“Whenever a child marriage is reported, a case needs to be registered and pursued to its logical conclusion. Merely having laws, Child Marriage Prohibition Officers and helplines is not enough if violations do not result in effective legal action,” says Ravi Kant, national convenor, Just Rights for Children.
“For generations, child marriage has been treated in some communities as a social practice rather than a violation of law. That perception needs to change,” he adds.
Nearly 50 km from Hyderabad, in Nandigama near Shadnagar, 15-year-old Khushi* sits outside her mud-floored home. Unlike Tanya, she enjoys school and wants to continue studying. Last May, however, she was married off to a 40-year-old who ran a toddy shop in a neighbouring village.
Her mother, Mamata*, a daily-wage worker aged barely 28, says financial hardship influenced the decision. “I knew the groom was older than even me, but our financial situation was such that I married her off. I realised my mistake and brought her back within three days,” she says.
The proposal came through Mamata’s landlord, who persuaded her that the man was a suitable match. “He manipulated me, saying it was a very good alliance,” she says.
Khushi was allegedly raped by the groom. Police booked him, along with Mamata, the landlord, and the priest who had solemnised the marriage. The case came to light after Khushi told her school principal that her mother was threatening to send her back to her husband if she did not help her with household chores.
Officials say interventions often depend on someone outside the immediate family recognising the risk. Some girls call Child Helpline ‘1098’ themselves. Poverty is one factor, but child rights workers also point to patriarchal attitudes, caste considerations, family honour and restrictions on adolescent girls. Cases are reported in urban areas too.
Beyond stopping the wedding
There is no separate formal survey on why child marriages occur. Officials say field enquiries by District Child Protection Units, along with the Integrated Child Development Services, Education Department, police and other stakeholders help identify children at risk and understand their circumstances.
Government schemes provide financial and other assistance aimed at keeping girls in school, but stopping a marriage does not necessarily remove the pressures that led to it.
School dropout is a recurring concern. Of the children identified in child marriage cases between 2025-26 and August this year, 777 had already dropped out; 1,028 were re-enrolled.
Women and Child Welfare Minister Danasari Anasuya says lack of awareness, particularly among economically weaker sections, remains a challenge. “Most child marriages are stopped at the last minute or come to our notice after the marriage has taken place. But our aim is to change the mindset of parents and relatives so that the thought of marrying off a child does not arise in the first place,” she points out.
The Minister says she coined the slogan, ‘Balya Vivaham – Bathuku Aagam’ (Child Marriage – Life Comes to a Halt) to sensitise the rural population, and plans awareness activities during the upcoming Bathukamma celebrations.
Officials say cases are also increasingly linked to adolescent relationships and elopements. Several minor girls have told officials they met or began communicating with boys through social media, particularly Instagram. Many cases are detected during routine visits by Accredited Social Health Activists and Anganwadi workers, who travel through villages and towns conducting surveys, checking on families and distributing medicines.
“When they suspect a girl is a minor, they alert us. We then verify the details and take necessary action,” an official says.
Kant says prevention must be followed by investigation and prosecution. “Consistent prosecution is important not only for securing justice but also for establishing that child marriage has consequences under the law. A few well-prosecuted cases can send a strong message to communities and help reinforce the deterrent effect of the law,” he says.
According to district-wise data from the Women Development and Child Welfare Department, 10,710 child marriages were prevented across Telangana between 2014-15 and August 2026. Vikarabad recorded the highest number at 878, followed by Mahabubnagar (759), Sangareddy (715), Rangareddy (553) and Nalgonda (531). Rajanna Sircilla recorded the lowest at 54, followed by Peddapalli (79) and Nirmal (121).
Officials say 1,028 children were also re-enrolled in schools between 2025-26 and August this year.
Puberty mistaken for readiness
For a girl married at 14 or 15, the consequences extend beyond leaving school and taking on household responsibilities. Early pregnancy places demands on a body that is still developing, say doctors.
“Getting periods does not mean a girl is ready to become pregnant,” says Leenatha Reddy Jakkidi, consultant paediatric endocrinologist, Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Hyderabad. Menstruation is one stage of puberty; physical development continues for several years after menarche.
Priyambada Leena, senior consultant paediatric endocrinologist at the hospital, says adolescence is when the body builds reserves for adulthood. Bone mass develops into the early twenties while muscles grow, organs mature and the brain continues to develop.
“An adolescent, even though she has started her periods, is still developing physically, cognitively and emotionally,” she says.
Pregnancy and subsequent breastfeeding add to nutritional demands. The risks are greater for girls who are undernourished or anaemic, with adolescent pregnancies associated with preterm birth and foetal growth restriction.
“When an adolescent becomes pregnant, and later starts breastfeeding, she is expected to support the growth and development of her baby at a time when her own body is trying to complete her growth,” Dr Leena says.
Babies affected by growth restriction can face developmental difficulties and, depending on nutrition and metabolic health, a higher risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life. “We may be influencing the health trajectory of two generations,” she adds.
Dr Jakkidi cautions against assuming that adolescent pregnancy necessarily results in short stature; one’s final height depends on childhood nutrition, genetics and hormonal development. Early marriage and forced sexual activity can also affect psychological wellbeing, contributing to anxiety, depression and distress, she says.
“We want our daughters to be financially independent. We want them to be educationally independent. And that is not achieved at 18,” she asserts.
What the girls want
Tanya and Khushi live nearly 300 kilometres apart. Neither has a clearly defined career in mind. Tanya no longer sees a return to school as realistic, while Khushi wants to continue studying.
“I want to get a good job and support my family,” Khushi says.
For some families, child marriage is a practice carried across generations; for others, financial hardship makes a daughter’s marriage seem like one less person to provide for. Many parents know that child marriage is illegal, but they may not understand the health consequences of early pregnancy or how marriage can curtail a girl’s education and independence.
These pressures leave little room for girls to decide what they want for themselves, even at an age when they should still be in school, playing with friends and thinking about what they might become.
“For them, the more immediate question is whether they will be allowed to remain children at all,” says Madhavi Reddy of Ashritha, a Telangana-based voluntary organisation.
(*Names changed to protect identity)
